Sony Unveils Its Office Oriented Digital Paper Tablet

Switching over from real paper books to e-paper books is a difficult journey. Those who enjoy reading, the ones that would be willing to make an investment in an electronic reader, are those who also love the feeling of curling up with a thick book in their hands. The decision can be difficult, but when those readers do make the change over they tend to fall in love. Of course, there is nothing like a paper and ink book, but there also is nothing like having a lightweight library that can be taken almost anywhere in the world. Having thousands of books at the touch of a finger is priceless.

Readers are jumping on the bandwagon, with e-readers like Amazon’s Kindle and Barnes and Noble’s Nook jumping off shelves into the palms of readers everywhere. Of course, e-books don’t need a dedicated e-reader to carry accessible books wherever someone goes. Tablets are also an option for reading e-books and transporting documents. Users of tablets such as Amazon’s Kindle Fire, Apple’s iPad, or Google’s Nexus line, all have the ability to read books, view documents, and much more.

Sony has decided to take a step into the document readers world with the announcement of the impending release of their Digital Paper tablet. Sony is touting the Digital Paper as being an office version of document readers. The 13.3 mm screen, on a tiny 7mm thick tablet will be using electronic paper to display PDF documents.

Other e-readers can also view pdfs, alongside other document types. So, what is it that makes the Digital Paper special? First of all the Digital Paper will have an amazing battery life, going for 3 weeks without needing any charging. Of course, that isn’t the main feature, what really makes the Digital Paper stand out is the screen itself. Unlike other e-readers, Sony’s Digital Paper will allow users to edit and take notes directly on the screen using a stylus that is included with the device. The Digital Paper apparently will allow users to even rest their hand on the device while writing without the touch screen responding negatively.

The device comes with 4GB of data storage that can be increased using SD cards. It is also going to use a plastic screen to decrease weight and increase durability.

What will the price of the Digital Paper be when it comes out in May? $1,100. That’s right, $1,100. With such a steep price, it is hard to believe that having the ability to write on a document will make the device actually sell. People can find Amazon Kindles for sale for less than $100 if they wish to read using e-ink. If they want, they can also find tablets like the Amazon Kindle Fire, for less than $400. With tablets, hundreds of apps that will allow users to take notes and edit pdfs exist, such as ezPDF Reader for Android devices.

The Digital Paper is an interesting idea, almost a mixture of the easy on the eyes e-readers, and the creative abilities of a tablet, but it is unlikely that such an idea would be worth $1,100.